Lens Products and Availability

Anti-Reflective Coatings

Crisp, clear vision all day, all night Light hitting any object reflects off of it — whether computer monitors, windshields, signs, televisions or even glossy paper. This means everything you see has a reflection, resulting in your vision not being at its best. Some of the worst reflections come when driving at night. Glare from other vehicles headlights and streetlamps can hinder your vision - even more so in the rain.

Foundation® Coating

Tough as nails. Even an innocent encounter with a hairbrush or jewelry can seriously scratch delicate plastic lenses. ZEISS coatings shield lenses from the perils of everyday life. Our Foundation® super hard coating provides more scratch resistance than other super hard coatings on the market. This breakthrough technology offers unrivaled adhesion and durability to extend the lifetime of all plastic lenses. And there’s never any cracking, peeling, flaking or scratching — guaranteed. With Foundation® you can send plastic lenses out into the world with confidence.

Transition Xtractive

If you spend more of your day outdoors than indoors or enjoy a lens with a slight tint indoors, then Transitions® XTRActive™ lenses may be right for you. Transitions XTRActive lenses are the darkest everyday photochromic lens-- even in warm weather—and have a moderate tint behind the windshield.

• Lenses change from light tint indoors to very dark outdoors • Designed for those who spend most of their day outdoors • The darkest everyday Transitions lens available - even in warm weather • Moderate tint behind the windshield • Blocks 100% of the sun’s harmful UVA & UVB rays • Available for most frames and with non-glare treatments

How dark can Transitions lenses get? Transition Brown lenses achieves a level of 15% transmission having that be a tint of 85% and a Transitions Gray lens achieves a level of 12% transmission, having that be a tint of 88%. These are achieved at 72° Fahrenheit and will vary with recapture and air conditions; slightly darker in colder temps and lighter in warmer temps, also air quality can diminish the color by restricting the amount of UV just as snow can increase UV by reflection, thus making the lenses darker.

Can Transitions lenses get as dark as sunglass lenses? Transitions lenses do become as dark as a sunglass lenses. Both the gray and brown colors reach to 92% of there full activation in only one minute; 80% is considered a sunglass.

Why do my Transitions lenses not get dark in my vehicle? In today’s vehicles, windshields block most of the UV rays that cause Transitions lenses to activate, or darken. When worn inside a car where less UV light is present, the ability of the lenses to darken is reduced. You may want to wear a pair of polarized prescription sunglasses for driving.

Is Transitions Gray better than Transitions Brown? The only difference between the two lenses is personal preference. Both lenses block 100% of both UVA & UVB lighting. Both lenses are as clear indoors as a clear lens and become darker outdoors than any previous technology of Transition. Brown lenses block more blue light thus reducing haze and glare and are more popular in Europe. Gray lenses tend to be more popular in the US and are a good choice for bright conditions.

Will Transitions lenses change under florescent lighting? Florescent lights do emit UV light and therefore will make all photochromic lenses darken slightly.

Trivex®- Advantage: Superior Optics, Durability and Impact Resistance

Does the wearer have an active life style demanding impact resistance and high performance optics while wearing the latest fashions in frames? Trivex lenses are the best choice for these wearers. Impact resistance like that of poly, ABBE values matching that of the human eye providing superior optics, material integrity for drill and rimless style frames. Light weight with a specific gravity of 1.11, and an index of 1.523. Trivex is the lightest lens material available to date.

Mid and High Index – Advantage: Thinner and lighter weight lenses

Mid-Index lenses, typically with indices ranging from 1.53 to 1.59 offer the wearer a thinner option from regular plastic at a slightly higher cost but less than the high index materials lenses. They are typically very tintable and compatible with most premium AR coatings and available in most styles for even the most difficult of Rx’s. High-Index lenses, typically with indices of 1.60 to 1.74 offer the thinnest lens options for the latest in lens and frame designs. MR-10 for example is a 1.67 material which offers a water white clear lens, thinness and material integrity for drill and rimless frames.

Is there a potential danger of accidents from flying or falling debris, objects, tools or equipment? Are there objects in the environment that might injure the eye? Does the wearer go through regular or random motions that might put them in contact with an object that is potentially dangerous? Is there potential for aggressive physical contact with humans or objects? If so, polycarbonate may be the lens material of choice.

Progressive Lenses

Around the age of 40, most people start to have difficulty focusing at close range. Single vision lenses can no longer be used for the entire range of vision from near to far. Traditional bifocal lenses provide clear vision of objects in the distance and near ranges, but everything in between is blurred. And, the visible dividing line is a telltale sign to everyone that you are wearing bifocals!

For intermediate and short-range focus difficulty associated with aging, there’s no better choice than progressives which provide perfect vision all day long, indoors and out. You’ll enjoy comfortable, natural vision from the outset with no adaptation delays or conspicuous rocking or swimming effects. Choose from a variety of materials and lens sizes.

If you work on a computer or engage in any activity that requires even wider fields of vision at intermediate and near distances (like cooking, sewing, studying, even model-making) you need glasses that allow your eyes to focus smoothly between near and intermediate distances. With computer lenses, no longer will you have to move your head around to see the computer screen clearly and offers a viewing distance of up to 10 feet so you can move around while wearing your glasses.

Advanced Free-Form Manufacturing HD Technology lenses are manufactured individually in SOLA’s state-of-the-art production facility, using advanced free-form generators. This technology can generate and manufacture any lens design on demand without the need for conventional base curves. By realizing the full potential of free-form, HD Technology lenses eliminate the visual compromises of ordinary progressives.

HD Technology creates the ideal lens design surface for each wearer’s combination of sphere power, cylinder power, cylinder axis, add power and frame dimensions. All HD lens wearers will experience a lens designed uniquely for them. The result is High Definition: the largest areas of clear vision with the lowest unwanted astigmatism.

HD lenses are best for: • Any patient who wants the best vision possible • Any patient with an Rx beyond +/- 3.00 • Any patient with astigmatism (approximately 70% of the population) • Any patient who is concerned about lens thickness (1.67 index lenses are up to 35% thinner and 30% lighter than CR39)

Polarized lenses

Polarized lenses contain million of parallel rows of tiny iodine crystals that act in a manner similar to venetian blinds. The Horizontal rows of iodine crystals contained within the polarized lens block out horizontal polarized light waves, letting only (non-polarized) vertical light waves reach the eye. This results in comfortable vision with no glare, and is the reason why only a polarized lens can block glare.

Drivewear lenses

Drivewear is powered by using two of the most advanced technologies found in the eyeglass industry today: transitions photochromatic technology and nu polar polarization technology. Drivewear provide glare protection through polarization and enhance and protect vision through photochromics which respond to both visible and UV light. By combining the strengths of two of the most important technologies in eyewear today we have developed the lens of tomorrow, Drivewear.

Autumn Gold

Autumn Gold™ lenses offer the ultimate in comfortable outdoor. The lenses are photochromic, they automatically change (darken and lighten by degree, depending on exposure to sunlight). When fully darkened they are an excellent sunglass with a pleasing brown tint. When fully lightened they have a medium golden or yellow tint. Autumn Gold™ lenses provide the unique feature of contrast enhancement, which makes fuzzy images look crisp and clear in cloudy, foggy or very bright environments. They absorb potentially harmful ultra violet rays and are excellent blue light blockers. Available in Glass and single vision trivex.

Glass

Is the wearer's environment full of flying abrasive materials? Is it dusty, sandy, dirty or oily? Will the wearer frequently have to clean the lenses? Is the wearer likely to clean the lenses without lubrication or clean cloth? In these circumstances, glass lenses may be the answer. Let’s face it – glass lenses last! They perform like they were new long after the features of other lenses have fatigued, bleached, sagged, scratched or worn out. Glass lenses retain the exact, original prescription power and edge diameter under any naturally occurring temperature extremes. They even remain stable on a sizzling-hot dashboard where plastic and poly lenses have been known to deform. As a rigid material, glass lenses maintain prescribed power even if wide variations in frame eye-wire tension occur. Glass generally has a high ABBE value, low dispersion; and is suitable for the vast majority of prescription powers, particularly those between +2.50 and –2.50. Glass is more scratch resistant than any other lens material. The scratch resistance of plastic lenses coated or not, doesn’t even come close to that of glass.

Newer glass lenses, like Corning’s Clear 16™ and Thin & Dark® lenses are setting higher premium standards. Both materials are newly formulated so that at 1.5mm center thickness, they will pass standard impact resistance tests. The result is thinner, lighter, and fully tested glass lenses. Clear 16, a high index glass beats conventional white crown glass and most plastic lenses for thinness and comfort. Thin & Dark lenses have set a performance standard for all photo reactive lenses. The lens gets darker, it clears-up faster, and its performance is less temperature-dependent than all other currently available photo reactive lenses – glass or plastic. It is the “Cadillac” of variable tints. Other high index glass lens materials are also used to make specialized thin lenses.

Slab Off Prism

Slab off is the process used to effect base up prism in the reading field of a lens while inducing none in the distance field. This type always results in prism base up, and is ground on the lens that has the weakest plus or strongest minus in the 90th meridian.

Tips for taking care lenses:

• Wash the lenses daily with mild soap and water to remove dirt and old deposits. Always dry the lenses with a clean soft cloth. • Never use abrasive household cleaners that contain ammonia or bleach. Never attempt to clean the dry lenses with tissues or other harsh cloths. • Use a professional cleaning cloth or pre-moistened lens cloth by Carl Zeiss to remove smudges or fingerprints during the day. • Keep your eyeglasses in a case for protection when not in use.